


it hurts now, but I'll make it better

by LovelyLittleGrim



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Crying Liam, Friendship, Gen, Helpful Theo, M/M, Mean old women that make Liam cry, Pre-Relationship, Pre-Slash, Soft Boys
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-21
Updated: 2019-08-21
Packaged: 2020-10-01 16:15:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,030
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20332846
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LovelyLittleGrim/pseuds/LovelyLittleGrim
Summary: PROMPT: "Don't let them see you cry"In the aftermath of the supernatural war in Beacon Hills, some things are still a little tense for those who aren't entirely human. It sucks for Liam, but Theo makes it suck a little less.





	it hurts now, but I'll make it better

There’s a rift after the war; an almost tangible divide between humans and supernatural creatures. Wariness hangs around almost every person like a thick cloud of perfume; it clings to them like a second skin, impossible to shake off and leave behind.

Liam gets it, really, he does. The truth about what’s really out there is a lot to take it and it’s scary. He, himself, was terrified when he first found out. He can make sense of the hunted looks and the hunched shoulders and the dead city as soon as dusk hits. He can understand.

That doesn’t mean that it doesn’t hurt.

He hates the quiet murmurs about him and his friends, hates the hurried steps to cross the street just so they don’t have to pass too close to him. It hurts to see the terror in the eyes of those he’s known for years.

Still, Liam tries.

He smiles and he holds open doors and he offers to carry bags, and on more than one occasion he’s rescued a cat from a tree. He’s even bought a cup of overly sweetened lemonade from a stand run by children and tipped them a five-dollar bill even though the lemonade was only 50 cents.

He’s done everything he can think of to show the people of his town that he’s not a monster. That he’s not something they should be afraid of. That he’s still the same kid he was before he just also happens to have claws and glowing eyes on occasion.

No one seems to care. He’s ‘politely’ turned away from stores, expelled from school, and avoided like the town pariah. Sure, it’s not just him, the others like him are treated the same way, but that doesn’t make things any easier. It doesn’t make Liam any less frustrated… any less upset.

“Damn it,” he curses after yet another failed attempt to prove he’s not whatever they think he is.

He wipes at his eyes angrily, shoes scuffing against the pavement with every step he takes back towards his parked car. He struggles to get his keys from his pocket and unlock the door, but he can’t really see anything through the blurry warmth in his eyes.

Mrs. Hanover had been his babysitter for eleven years and Liam’s neighbor all his life. She’d made cupcakes for Liam’s birthday and baked apple pies for the holidays for him and his family.

Now, she won’t even look him in the eye.

Liam had only wanted to help her with her car when he’d seen her tire was flat. He’d only wanted to help and she had practically acted like he was some sort of murderer trying to lure her away to her death.

“Damn it,” Liam curses again, keys slipping from his hand and landing with a loud jangle onto the pavement.

A hand that is not his own scoops them up and nudges him away from the door. Liam blinks in surprise and jerks his head to the side.

Theo is standing next to him, a single brow raised in curiosity. He twirls the keys around his fingers and nods towards the passenger side. “Get in, I’ll drive.”

“What—“ Liam shakes his head. “No, I can drive.”

He doesn’t even know where Theo came from; hadn’t heard or smelled him come up at all.

Theo scoffs, “If you crash your car these assholes will blame the whole supernatural community for it. So, no. You can’t drive.”

Liam licks his lips and looks around, sees tons of curious eyed staring him down. A whine leaves Liam’s throat. They all look as though they’re watching a train wreck in the making.

“Come on Liam, get in the car,” Theo says and his voice is softer than a moment ago as he unlocks the doors. “Don’t let them see you cry.”

Liam sniffs, his fingers curling at his sides as he nods. “Okay.”

He moves around the car and climbs into the passenger seat, his head bowing low, hair falling into his eyes. Theo slides into the driver’s seat beside him and starts the car.

“Your truck…” Liam mumbles as they pull out of the parking lot of the only store Liam has been able to enter for the last month and a half.

“It’s fine, I’ll get it later,” Theo tells him, fingers drumming lightly against the steering wheel.

It’s been a while since they’ve been in a car together with Theo driving and Liam slouching in the passenger seat. It hasn’t happened since the end of the war. Theo had given Liam a ride home, both of them tired and bloody. They hadn’t talked then, just rode in silence, the sound of the wind whooshing by their only break from the quiet.

It feels awkward to not talk now. Especially since Theo has come to his recuse yet again.

“What were you doing there?” Liam asks and wants to rolls his eyes at himself at once. It’s a grocery store. The answer is pretty much laid out for him.

“I’m guessing the same thing you were.”

“Getting painfully rejected by old women?” Liam asks turning to him with a faux look of surprise.

Theo glances over at him and then back at the road. He huffs, the sound dangerously close to a laugh.

“Well,” Theo says dryly. “I guess we weren’t doing the same thing at the store.”

“That’s a shame, rejection is all the rage these days, Raeken, “ Liam tells him seriously. “You should really try it.”

“Sure,” Theo nods. “I’ll get right on that. There’s a bingo hall on Reynolds street with lots of old people, I’ll try my luck there.”

“Good, you do that,” Liam says, turning back to the window.

The sun is starting to up down behind the rows of houses that line the street. The shift of light lets Liam see a ghost of his reflection in the glass. His nose is pink, his eyes still wet and shiny with the remnants of tears, but the curve of his lips are edging closer and closer to a smile.

It’s been a while since he’s really felt like smiling; since the urge to laugh has bubbled up inside him from genuine amusement.

“I don’t think I’ll be rejected though,” Theo muses.

Liam lifts his eyes, turning his attention the even fainter outline of Theo’s reflection. He can see the tilt of the chimeras head as he drives, the contemplation etched into the furrow of his brows.

“I mean… have you seen me? Not to brag or anything but, I’m not rejection material,” Theo says.

Liam snorts, and turns back around to see the real version of Theo—a hazy reflection just doesn’t measure up. “Someone thinks highly of themselves.”

“Well someone has to,” Theo says and there’s just an undercurrent of truth to the words that makes Liam pause.

“I don’t think lowly of you,” he tells Theo slowly.

Theo’s finger taps out a nervous beat on the steering wheel and then fall still as they pull up to a stoplight. There’s a too-long moment of silence before Theo turns to him with a cocky smile and raises brows.

“Oh? You think of me?” he asks, tone just verging on flirtatious. “No wonder Mrs. Hanover rejected you, she knows your heart belongs to someone else.”

Theo places a hand over his own heart and sighs. “I’m touched.”

Liam sputters, his hands flailing through the air like he’s trying to smack Theo’s words away. “What? No, why would I—that’s not what I mean—Raeken, you dick.”

Theo cracks a grin and the light turns green. Liam huffs and sits back in his seat, arms crossing over his chest.

He doesn’t feel annoyed or mad though. His cheeks burn ever so slightly, but there’s still a wave of something close to happiness inside him—a lessening of tension, of stress, of the need to act like he’s perfect so no one will hate him.

_Free_, he thinks. _He feels free._

Theo turns onto Liam’s road and then they’re there, Liam’s crappy car parked in the driveway and the engine off. Theo twirls the keys once before holding them out.

“Here.”

Liam takes them. He feels like he should say something else, a thank you, maybe, but the words stick in his throat. He nods at Theo, fingers curling around the keys so tightly that his knuckles turn white.

It shouldn’t be that hard to say.

Theo stares at him for a long moment and then leans in closer. His voice is low when he speaks, almost conspiratory. “_Thank you, Theo, for once again saving my life.”_

Liam flushes and shoves at Theo’s shoulder, not hard, but just enough to push him away. “Shut up, I wasn’t in any trouble.”

Theo laughs. It’s a nice sound when it’s not preceding an evil monologue.

Liam rolls his eyes even as his face begins to burn. He fiddles with the door handle.

“But… thank you for putting your nose into other people’s business,” Liam grumbles. It’s a thank you, even if it is coated in sarcasm.

He pushes open the car door and climbs out, Theo following suit.

“You’re ever so welcome, little beta,” Theo’s tone is just as sarcastic as Liam’s was, but there’s a kernel of truth there too… just like Liam’s words.

He bumps his shoulder into Liam’s as they meet at the front of the car and walk up to Liam’s house. “I know how lost without me you get.”

“You wish, Raeken,” Liam tells him not bothering to hide his grin anymore. Theo’s got an almost smile on his face too, so Liam doesn’t care.

“Maybe I do,” Theo says with a sigh that’s entirely too dramatic to be even close to real. “It’s too bad I’m not your type. The old women in this town are really lucky.”

Liam almost trips over the first step to the porch because of it. He hadn’t expected that. He’s expected Theo to elbow him or verbally jab him back, but this… this feels like flirting. Real flirting.

“Yeah,” Liam’s voice comes out way softer than he has intended. “It’s too bad.”

“Yeah.”

A silence falls around them as they stand together on the porch. Liam doesn’t know what else to say but he also doesn’t want the conversation to end. He hadn’t known that Theo could be this person. This easy-to-get-along-with, easy-to-banter-with type of person. It’s almost like they’ve been friends for a while—there’s a comfortableness to it— and yet it still feels new, still feels just this side of thrilling.

Liam clears his throat and takes a half step closer.

Theo doesn’t move away.

“Do you want to come inside?” Liam asks, head rolling inquiringly to the side.

Theo’s eyes find his, dark green and intense. There’s another shift here, just like with the town. Something different coiling around them. A beginning. To what? Liam isn’t sure yet, but there’s the anticipation of it thrumming just beneath his skin.

Theo licks his lips, body swaying closer for just the barest hint of a second before leaning back and looking away.

“No,” he tells Liam, voice raspy in the growing darkness. “I should get back to my truck.”

“Oh…okay,” Liam says, he licks his lips too, but they still feel dry. “Be careful.”

Theo nods he head and steps backward, once twice and then turns around. Liam watches him go before turning to his front door and opening it. Cool air hits his skin, the familiar smells of home washing over him. Liam pauses before stepping inside, his hand tightening on the doorknob as he says Theo’s name.

The crunch of grass underfoot pauses, “Yeah?”

“I won’t let them see me cry anymore,” Liam says.

There’s a beat of silence and then Theo’s soft exhale of “good… they don’t deserve it.”

Liam smiles to himself as he goes inside and closes the door. There might be a lot of trials and tribulations to still get through when it comes to the town, but Liam feels like he’s found something that will help him navigate through it all and keep his sanity intact.


End file.
